"Words I Don't Remember"

"This song for me is about love, trust, commitment..." This could be Tom Krell describing basically every song he's made as How to Dress Well. But this is the statement he used to introduce "Words I Don't Remember," a title which is also applicable to nearly every song he's made. Krell is an artist defined by an inexact grasp of his own memories, recounting painful familial relationships and recalling spiritually nourishing R&B songs both explicitly ("Ready For The World") and implicitly (the Ashanti interpolation of Total Loss' "Running Back"). "Words I Don't Remember" initially appears to be no different, its opening synth chords a glitzier take on Diana Ross' "Missing You," which many people Krell's age first experienced through Notorious B.I.G.'s "Miss U."

But even compared to the pristine clarity of Total Loss, there's a bracing presence in both Krell's vocal performance and his unadorned language, as he wonders how two people can be connected while allowing the necessary time to be alone with their thoughts. More so than on his previous work, you hear how Krell is establishing a new vanguard for "singer-songwriter" with peers like Autre Ne Veut and Majical Cloudz, as "Words I Don't Remember" is as performative and emotionally legible as the old idea of someone confessing over a piano or guitar while embracing the showmanship and sonic possibilities of all forms of pop and electronic music (check the vocal manipulations during the midsection). From his introduction, you sense Krell knows there's something already definitive about "Words I Don't Remember," and once you get to its coda, he wordlessly expresses how love remains even in the face of total loss.